System Of A Down Concerts Setlist

System of a Down, often abbreviated to SaoD or shortened to System, is an Armenian-American heavy metal band. They were formed in 1994 in Glendale, California. The founding members were lead vocalist and keyboardist Serj Tankian (born in 1967 in Beirut, Lebanon), guitarist and vocalist Daron Malakian (1975, Los Angeles, California), and bassist Shavo Odadijan (1974, Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union).

Tankian and Malakian attended the same high school, Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School in Los Angeles, but never met each other due to their age difference. However, both of them started working in the LA music scene, and when they finally met in 1992, they bonded over their shared Armenian heritage. The same year, they decided to form the rock band "Soil". However, that group saw little success and broke up by 1994.

So, Tankian and Malakian, along with Odadijan who was originally their manager, moved on to their next project: the heavy metal band "System of a Down". The name was based on a poem Malakian had written in his youth. They hired Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian as their drummer.

In the next few years, they produced 4 demo tapes and performed live shows (sometimes under the name of their old band, Soil). In 1997, they got signed by Columbia Records.

In June 1998, they released their self-titled debut album, “System of a Down”. It became a moderate hit, peaking at the #124 spot on the Billboard 200 list, while also getting on the charts in the UK, Australia, and the Netherlands. At that point, the band line-up consisted of the three founders, Tankian, Malakian, and Odadijan, as well as John Dolmayan on the drums. The standout tracks on the record were “Sugar” and “Spider”.

Since then, SoaD has released 4 more studio albums, thus they have 5 in total. The best selling one among them is “Toxicity”, which came out in September 2001 and sold over 5 million copies. Their latest new System of a Down album is from November 2005, titled “Hypnotize”. The band went on a hiatus between 2006 and 2010, during which the members focused on their solo projects, as well as projects with other bands, in Malakian’s case. Since their 2010 comeback, they have only put out 2 new songs, but have been going on System of a Down concert tours consistently.

The band's biggest hits to date are the aforementioned “Sugar” (1998), “Toxicity” (2001, same title as their album), “Chop Suey!” (also 2001), and “B.Y.O.B.” (2005). Check where the nearest System of a Down concert is playing on the page above.